Anywhere But Here

Anyone who has followed my previous reviews of Peter Pinney's books will be unsurprised to see it has five stars. Pinney is probably my favourite author (certainly of travel), and although I have read almost all of his books, I am yet to track down copies of a couple.In this book, Pinney again shares some of his loveable rogue experiences - and although he (and travel companion Anna, for most of this journey) manipulates the truth, makes use of other peoples possessions, breaks promises and has a lack of respect for authority (ie lies, cheats, steals) it is clear that this is never carried out to the disadvantage of the poor man. There may be inconvenience as a result of say - borrowing a canoe to cross a river, and certainly the government officials were left out of pocket in almost all cases, and fruit trees may have had some of their bounty removed, but there is no malice in the travel of Pinney.This journey takes us across Africa from East to West, commencing in Tanganyika (modern Tanzania), where his previous book [b:Who Wanders Alone 22650451 Who Wanders Alone Peter Pinney https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1404457348l/22650451.SX50.jpg 42149962] comes to an end. Written in 1956, I assume it takes place a little earlier than this, at a time where European powers are well on their way to corrupting tribal Africa, so many are the names of countries and zones which no longer exist, from the well known Southern and Northern Rhodesia, to exotic named places such as Barotseland and Cabinda, to those zones of ownership - French Equatorial Guinea, Spanish Guinea, Gold Coast, and Ivory Coast.Either way Pinney covers a lot of ground, mostly on foot, with so little money that he is reliant on the charity of many (which is frequently given), and some strength to go hungry where required. What money he earns in a string of unorthodox work doesn't last long, as he is quick to return the favour and assist others. Nevertheless, his work as a stage-hand, a devil-image salesman, or a cataloguer of Liberian folk-tales keep him moving forward.His travel is far from easy - as noted above, his most typical mode of travel is by foot, but of then he is offered rides by vehicle. He also crews on boats up the coast, but with Anna, travelling by foot through the swampy marshes, effected by tidal waters and quicksand was probably the most risky period, and this along with the risk of simply being killed to rob (despite having nothing), and the high risk of sickness were probably a combination that suggests Pinney is subject to an over-abundance of good luck.Interspersed in his travel tales, and short, but very well formed explanations of the political or cultural situations of the time. Also short historical inputs and some philosophical thinking, as well as inevitable ‘discussions' with others he comes in contact with about such topics as the white man's role in Africa, and religion / missionary effects on Africa. These are usually a page at most, and re well articulated, and not distracting from the narrative. It is fair to say he plays a baiting role to may of these ‘discussions'.P122“Can't they be left to themselves for a while? I feel a little sorry for these Africans. Everyone keeps telling them what they can and cannot do, and then forcing them to do something entirely different.”But the more interesting quotations come from some of his descriptive writing, spending time with the poor, and away from European influences.P140Thus is was we entered a low eating-house on the lamplit shores of the river in a Moslem neighbourhood, a modest boxwood shanty having no walls at all, but sufficiently screened with hanging bags. There were several benches and three tables, and upon each table were oil-lamps which cast soft shadows on the haze of airborne cooking-fats and wood-smoke, and gently illuminating a dozen Africans at food; on the floor at the farther end were cooking-fires, and a fine diversity of smells arose from bubbling pots and sizzling pans. The chef was a robust ogre of glistening dark bronze with an incense pastille smouldering in his hair, a swearing, sweating Panta-gruel naked to the waist and stoking fires, lifting lids, and scooping out great globs of meat and manioc and fish: he might have been cooking skulls on the shores of River Styx.Five stars.

I. Mozambique. Portuguese Prison.
Pinney arrives with travel companion Chickenhawk. Pinney is keen to travel to Rhodesia. Chickenhawk is not so keen. They departed friends but Pinney wrote that there was no way of knowing what became of him.

II. Rhodesia. The Tides of Happenchance.
“What was it I had said to Chickenhawk two months ago, or more? Something of the rigours of travel souring wine and women; and here I was on the way to anywhere with a women at my side. I glanced at her, walking jauntily beside me with an independent air, and chuckled”

III. Barotseland. Kings, Lions, and Princes.
A belligerent Afrikaner is unhappy with the travellers. He suspects them of being English. “Overmasehazewindhoornmolenpestpokken” says one of the travellers to the “old fool”

IV. Angola. “Butterflies are poisoned, and birds have lost their wings”
“Here in Luanda a journalist discovered us fishing on the waterfront, surrounded by citizens and heckled by police; and in return for some small story he became our host. Fernando was a long suffering Protestant to whom the Catholic colony of Angola appeared as a maelstrom of political and theocratic heresies betraying the land to the incestuous domination of Mother Portugal, and he was anxious lest two strangers should rush headlong into conflict with arbitrary idolatry and cant.”

V. Cabinda. Virgins For Sale.
Pinney is outraged at a local custom of selling virgins. He mused that the Mayombes loved their children but would then subject them to such a fate as selling them.

VI. French Equatorial Africa. Police, Swamps, and Witch-doctors.
“It was a saturated coast of brimming swamps and swollen streams where white man never went and natives lived in touch with the early death. It was, too, a land of strange contrasts, a devils wilderness of jungle flats and tidal creeks ribbed with occasional features of firm and fertile land reaching from the Crystal Mountains to the sea, so that one sometimes rose from lowland slough on almost imperceptible slopes with villages and gardens. It was a land half given to the sea and hammered by sudden rains, shunned alike by man and beast during monsoon season”

VII. Spanish Guinea. Forbidden Frontier.
Pinney tells a barman that he is in Africa to meet Africans. He was far from convinced as most whites were there for other purposes. Nothing said could convince him. The barmans confidence was required if the journey was to prosper. The plan was a little contraband to do business across the border.

VIII. Cameroons. The Village of the Living Dead.
“The village of lepers was a silent rabble of neglected huts hiding among a grove of squat oil-palms and tall wine-palms; one hundred and twenty five lepers lived in forty little hutches of bark and thatch. Men and women were sitting on the thresholds of huts, or lying in the morning sun as we approached. Only one man was active, and he was adzing a wooden bowl from a soft white block of wood: but when they saw us they began eagerly dragging themselves along the ground to greet us. Some could walk upright, some crawled on hands and knees of flopped sideways along the ground like stricken birds, mewing and whining.”

IX. Nigeria. Prophets of the Apocalypse.
Plenty of partying, food, drink and a parting of the way. Antelope stew and chicken and rice and chilli, any palm-wine along with your goats head? Beer will do.

X. Togoland. “Vraiment, monsieur, it is gold...”
“The Superintendent of police was a handsome Englishman with keen green eyes and briskly formal manner; he was called McCabe. It was almost 5 o'clock. He glanced briefly at the passport, stamped ‘Seen on Arrival' in the first space he found and said ‘I wondered who the devil was tramping along the road. Care for a spot of tea? Come home and meet my wife....'”

XI. Gold Coast. City of Charlatans.
Mammy-wagon stakes with such entries as Special Quiet Boy, My Bones Are Vexed, Meet Me In St Louis, and Psalm 69 Line 4. Pinney gets to ride in the “...undefeated challenger” into the Ashanti city of Kumasi.


XII. Ivory Coast. The Arab Horse-thief from Khartoum.
“”Have you ever been to Liberia?' I asked. ‘No. But I have met Mandingo traders who have been there: and it is worse than this place'”

XIII. Liberia. Leopards are Innocent.
Pinney gets to meet the President. He talks the President into financing a book on Liberian legends.
Someone is not that keen.
https://www.amazon.com/Legends-Liberia-Pinney-Peter/dp/1173143289

XIV. Sahara. Escape from Paradise.

“.....the road to Anywhere”

Outstanding.
Highly recommended to all who wish to be on the road to anywhere.